Hairdressing appliance



March 19, 1957 s. R. CHESTER HAIRDREISSING APPLIANCE Filed pt. 7. 1954 VINVENTUR S ANLEY k. CH5TR United States Paten'tf) This 'inveiitioiirenters) apparatus foi' rev'v'orkirig hair In more reeeiit"times' 'itnasbeehwissg ryea' which normally "grows and "arranges itself insubstantially straight strands, can be made to curl by changing thecross-sectional configiiratioiiof the hair strahil." A A Straight hairis almost invariably-articular cross section and manyof theprocesses-usedtop avide weaned permanent waves rely upon some means orthe cylindrical form of thes traiidfto make'itofval shape so that 'thestresses within" thfstrand' became un even thereby causing thestr'and'to befid'or' curl.

Mostbf the haircunrngprecesses arthe' upon heat and pressiire'br apa to'rie'or otherorboth of theseforc'es' combined chemicalage'nciesto-distort the hair 'into'the" desired 'cressj'sefc'nenai snaps? I V Amarked disadvantage which cheirae'teriaes all of these processesresidesi'n the fact tha'ft'he 'hair "gradnally re stores itself to the'originalcylindrical shape'and-becomes" straight again afteran'intervalbf tinie',"the-'duration of intervarusuany' depeiidiiiguponthd'egre'e of violence of the forces which were applied to str'es's'the'hair beyond its normally stress-relieved condition.

A point to remembers thatthe hairfwhich curls under:

these artificially applied stresses is initially: unevenly stressedinternally even when it curls inan effort to relieve the "condition; p

Hair str'arids, like'any other mundane phenomenon tend to achievestress-relief by internal agitation and regroiipihg 'of' moleculeswithina surface envelope so as to achieve stre's's"relit'."Thisi's'sometimes -referred to in mechanics as aging.

It is an object of the; present invention to provideapper:

ratu's'an'd inethod wherebya hairstrand can be distortedin shapepermanently without stressing the hair strand internally, that isto'say; without causing an increase oflocal stress atone point in. thehair section which was not there when thehairwas generated by na'tiire.Nat--' urally curly ha'i'r'i's knowii'to be fully stress relievedinternally, thecur'l'being part of the means whereby the strand relievesunevenstressesi' I have discovered that it is possible to distortthestress pattern 'in a normally stress-relieved cylindrical hair strandby discretely removing a portionof this substance fromone side of thestrand A hair strandso=treatedimmediately restores itself to astress-relievedcondition by bending'in'to an arcuate'forni resembling acurl.- Since no stress has been added tothe hair structure--by'myinternal stre'ss-it is immediately fully relieved as soon erediscffe'mtliod since "the step-by-step removal ot- 2,785,688PatentedFMar. 19,1195? hair substance particles is gentle and does: notshtick hair 'strnctur' as would be the caseif thewhole. amountzg.

of materiaI nece'ss'ary to' form a desired curl were I 2: moved in one'strokeof a 'cutti-ngtool. LA methodsofr curling whereiii'thewholecnton" a curl is made in one stfoke'yvill applyadded stress t0-thl1airvstd-mute. Th.... hair by this method will be confrontedwith'twostress'es. both of which cause the hair-to'curl; "Wlienlinter'nagitation 'off' the'- hair 'substafic'e relieves one of these. a

a curved portion 'is reiriov'e'd dis'cr'ete1y thereby so that the'hai'r'bendsor'curls in'a direction 'concave'toward thev number of strokesused and to some extent by the pres sure"exe'rt'edby the too'l againstthe 'sid'e of'i'th'e strand. The invention willnow be further elucidated-by1'the following des'criptionof'a preferred 'er'nb'odime'ntbf appa .l

ratus fand associated method "in accordance" with-fm teachings. Thetexf'should "be stt'ldi'd "in"co'njiinction f. with the accompanyingdrawings wherein:'

Figure 1 depicts a magnified view of a'ihair strand.whichv..-. has beenprocessed according to myteaching's.

Figures 2 and 2A depictia simpletOoTattached-toka conventional comb forboth combingand'preparing1he hair for grinding and for also grinding thehair surface.;,,.

Figure 3 depictsa more complicated toolwhichibyiitsQ shape facilitatesthe hair grinding operation Figure 3A is a section oniline 3A-3AofQFig'u re 3.".

Figure 4 depicts a simple 'motor driven grindingtool... foruse'-'in-processing hair according to my teachings...v

Figure 5 is an illustrative sketch showing one phase, of -a method inaccordance with my teachings.

Referring now to these drawings, Figure l depicts-a hair strand in fourconditions, 'A depictsthe hair as a straight cylinder, B shows thehairAin an advanced stage a of grinding whereby it'assumes in parta concaveshape, C shows the hair strand relaXed'in'to 'an 'arcuate. shaperesembling a curl, and D shows a strand of hair locally ground away atopposite 'sides' to produce a curled form.

It will be'evident that by cutting. the hairron the other: side itwould'curl theopposite way, and in order-to pro-v vide curly effects inalong strand' it may :be expedient to cut both sides of thevstrandasat-D, Fig; 1, Isosas to approximate an oval cross section. Such-a crosssection? will not only-become concave"butxwill ztwist sliglitly therebyproviding a very satisfactory curl.

The depth of cut, and the'decision -to grind the hair on one or twosides of 'the'strand depends "largely'npo'rrf the'conditiom'texture andfineness of the hair;

Those skilled in the" art are awarethat there is""a"i very widedifierence-in samples of hair. Fine hairs'may; require only lightgrinding on one side whereas heavy v coarse or stubborn hair may requireextensive single, 1 or multiple grinds upon the surface in order toestablishthe desired shape distortions;

Of course, the foregoing.disizussiomrefeningonly toe one strand of hairhas beenpurelylsphilosophicakan explanatory. In practice it -isdesirable-.--to process large number of strands simultaneously. Tofithisendie I have devised certain tools for the purpose and these will nowthe described.

Figures 2 and 2A depict a'tool comprising a conventional comb 1 havingteeth 6 and a handle 3. The back of the comb is shown as modified toinclude a succession of shallow slots 2 having rounded bottom faces 4.The faces 4 of slots 2 and if desired the smooth' back 5 of the handleare coated with an abrasive substance.

Any commonly known abrasive can be used such as corundum, silica dust orthe like and this can be caused by known means to adhere firmly to thesurfaces 4, 5 and present projecting cutting edges. It is howeverimportant that the materials comprising this abrasive surfaceshould bevery finely divided and have very sharp cutting surfaces which do notdull' quickly during use.

In a preferred embodiment the abrasive surface should be comprised offine diamond dust for the following reason. 'Ithas been pointed outthat'the hair should be ground off gently and discretely. Since the toolwill be used .over a long period of time and in the course of a singletreatment will make many many strokes, the cutting material should beone of the highest possible reliability; a poor cutting tool having dullteeth does a poor job of grinding, and if dull enough may even tend toiron rather than grind the hair thus introducing an undesired form oftemporary secondary stress in the hair strand;

The combination of a comb and hair grinder in one tool is a convenientexpedient. The comb is used to sort out the strands into appropriategroups and the tool is simply tipped over against the strands at thedesired points where a cut is to be made. The comb may be regarded as aguide for the tool and therefore a useful part of it.

When it is desired to grind in a localized manner the tool can beturnedin the hand, the comb portion becoming the handle and the abrasive back5 becomes a useful finishing or warding tool.

Figure 3 depictsa fork shaped tool 7. In a preferred arrangement theinner surface 8 of one fork tine 9 is coated with the abrasive and theedges of the tine are rounded, both tines 9, 10 presenting smoothcontours except for the abrasive portion. In a further desirablemodification the surface 8 is transversely corrugated; the

troughs and ridges tend to resolve the hair strands into small groups.These groups tend to twist spirally as the tool is drawn over a hank ofhair and so the successive strokes of the abrasive grind the hair atpoints which advance spirally. Such a phenomenon results in a veryattractive form of curl when the tool is manipulated by one skilled inthe art.

This tool can be twisted slightly when drawn over the hair. The handle11 may desirably be knurled to ensure a good grip and control by theoperator: by twistin'g'the handle while drawing this tool over the hairstrands the fork acts as a lock and holds the strands taut while theabrasive surface 8 does its work.

A useful modification of Figure 3 would place the abrasive on'tine 10instead of on tine 8. Using the handle twisting technique with such atool modification would evolve a difierently shaped curl.

In rare cases where thick. stubborn hair strands are being processed itwill be desirable to provide a tool similar to Figure 3 in which bothtines are abrasive. However, such a tool must be used with discretionfor the reason that a two edged attack on the hair strands can causehair strand breakage. Such a too] would be useful nevertheless for acombined thinning and curling operation.

Figure 4 depicts a motorized grinding tool. This may be of conventionalmechanical design having a grinding tool 13 rotated at high speed by amotor 12. The grinding surface 13 of such a tool should be of very finetexture, and should be stroked lightly upon the surface ofthe hank. l

, hair 19 is pulled down taut by known means at theends 20, and may becombed out by a tool such as that of Fig use.

greases A preferred form of tool has the same outward appear anceasFigure 4but operates'in a different manner. In

the preferred embodiment the grinding head 13 is made to reciprocateaxially as shown by the arrows between positions 14 and 15 and alsorevolves as per arrow 16. The rotation is preferably clockwise at 16 forright handed operators and counter clockwise for left hand If the tool13 rotates slowly and see-saws fairly rapidly-say times per second, itis very eifective as a grinder and involves a very small risk ofcatching, tangling .and/ or breakinghair strands. The tool is veryconvenientlyo'perated by air motor but may also be electricallymotorized; Inia. highly desirable modification the motor 12 may be ofthe vacuum type. An aperature 17 may vent the high pressure side of themotor, the inrush of air thereby drawing the grinding swarf on the workand disposing of its through the vacuum line-18.

Hair grinding residues being very fine in mesh they will not injure themechanism of the vacuum motor by passing through it. Such a tool isunique to the purposeherein presented.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that 'very widevariations in grinding techniques will be required in pursuit of hairstyling and in dealing with hair strands of widely varying texture anddimension.

Figure 5 has been included for the purpose of orienting the skilled mindin the direction of my new techniques and teachings. The illustration inFigure 5 may be 'regarded as being especially applicable to what thehair stylist regards as a difficult case-that of coarse hair.

According to the method of my teachings a hank of ure 2A and by movingthe abrasive surface up and 'down against the hairs in a zig-zag motionas shown. The treatment is repeated many times for each of the first,second and third waves, applying the abrasive tool to both sides of thehair hank.

Skilled artists will make use of the fingers to press against the hank,increasing and decreasing the pressure artfully to make a desiredstyling of curl.

Of course, any number of curls may be made and it will be evident to oneskilled in the art that now the technique can be varied to provide looseand tight and twisty curls as desired.

Figure 5 shows only the treatment of one lock or hank of hair. Otherportions of the subjects hair may be successively treated in a similarmanner.

For fine textured hair, the tools may be pulled through a lock or hankof hair or may simply be pressed against appropriate areas of the hairas it lies upon the head and drawn, usually in some sort of zig-zagfashion, along over the head contour pressing down where a curl iswanted and releasing pressure where no curl is desired or where thephaseof a curl is to be turned or reversed.

It is to be understood that the foregoing description and illustrationof my teachings is strictly exemplary and not limiting.

In the profession of hair styling there is room for almost infinitevariation of the techniques of manipulation of the abrasive tools andmany tools of odd configuration J may be found advantageous in thecourse of pursuing a fancied hair style. All such, however, when theyfollow my teachings in regard to the discrete removal of a portion fromthe side of a hair strand will lie within the broad spirit of myinvention and are to be regarded as lying within the ambit of theappended claims.

What is claimed is: v

1. The method of curling hair which comprises grind ing away a sideportion of the hair strand in discrete successive steps in such a manneras to evolve an area of unbalanced stress within the hair structure.

2. The method of curling hair which comprises selectdividing the sheetinto parallel rows of strand groups and grinding out a contour on oneside of each said strand group.

3. The method of curling hair which comprises select ing a specifiedhank thereof, combing it into a fiat sheet, dividing the sheet into aseries of strand groups all held in substantially parallel relation bymeans of a slotted tool wherein each strand group is restrained withinthe walls of a slot, and then by means of an abrasive facecharacterising the bottom of each slot, grinding off a portion of hairby sliding the tool back and forth along the hair strands, exerting theabrasive action against the hairs in discrete successive waves of force.

4. The method of curling hair which comprises selecting a specified hankthereof, combing it into a flat sheet, dividing the sheet into a seriesof strand groups all held in substantially parallel relation by means ofa slotted tool wherein each strand group is restrained within the wallsof a slot, and by applying abrasive means characterizing the bottom faceof each restraining slot, grinding oil a portion of hair by sliding thetool back and forth along the hair strands in a zig-zag motion andexerting the abrasive action against the hairs in discrete Waves offorce whose frequency is timed to synchronize with the said zig-zagmotion so as to cause the abrasions in the hair strands to define aspiral pattern upon each strand group.

5. A hair processing tool for the purpose stated comprising a rigidmember characterized by a series of slots cut into one side thereof,each slot having two juxtaposed smooth side walls and a bottom facecoated with abrasive material, and a handle associated with said rigidmember.

6. A hair processing tool for the purpose stated comprising a rigid forkshaped member having a handle and two tines, an undulating abrasivesurface characterizing the inner surface of one tine, and a smoothsubstantially non-abrasive surface characterizing the juxtaposed innersurface of the other tine.

7. A hair processing tool for the purpose stated comprising a rigidmember characterized by a series of substantially rectangular slots cuttransversally along one side thereof, each slot having smoothsubstantially nonabrasive side walls and a highly abrasive bottom face,comb-like means radiating transversally from another side of said rigidmember and a handle for gripping and manipulating the tool.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS569,285 Jacobs Oct. 13, 1396 2,033,552 Schleimer Mar. 10, 1936 2,056,379Acocella Oct. 6, 1936 2,308,624 Pouech Jan. 19, 1943 2,490,647 NormanDec. 6, 1949

